One Week
by Lyralocke
Summary: Kataang. They had been together for one whole week. Kataang Week.
1. Chapter 1

_So like a week late, I went through all the Kataang week prompts and decided to try to write oneshots for them. Even if it killed me. It was basically to try to loosen up and bring an end to my writer's block from hell. I don't know how well it worked. You tell me._

_Six more to come._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar_

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CHAPTER 1: Umbrella

"Aang, Katara, hold on."

The young Avatar stopped, tugging on the waterbender's hand to bring her to a rest as well. They turned in the doorway of Iroh's tea shop as Iroh approached them.

"Going for another walk today?" he asked with a fatherly smile.

"Yep," Katara replied, squeezing Aang's hand and grinning. "As usual."

The couple had gotten into the habit of strolling around the streets of Ba Sing Se every morning. It took them away from Sokka's prying eyes and Toph's snarky comments. They could just wander, pausing every so often in quiet places to just hold each other, to kiss and simply be together.

Iroh nodded. "Well if that's the case, you'll be needing this," he said, offering a simple red umbrella to them. Aang took it with a curious smile.

"But Iroh, we're both waterbenders," he said, tilting his head toward Katara. "If it rains, we can just bend it away."

"Perhaps," Iroh replied sagely. "But there's something about walking with a loved one under an umbrella…" he trailed off wistfully and smiled again. "I'll just let you find out for yourselves."

Aang and Katara shared a glance. Katara shrugged. "Hey, it'll keep one hand free at least," she said with a smirk. Iroh laughed and shooed them out of the shop. The others would be waking soon, and he knew Aang and Katara didn't like to be pestered. He understood young love. It was like a flower. It needed space to take root and grow. As he watched the two of them lace their fingers together as they walked away, Katara leaning over to whisper in his ear and Aang carrying the umbrella over his shoulder, he knew this particular flower had been taking root for a long time.

Aang cast a glance skyward in an effort to move his attention away from the extremely distracting things Katara was whispering in his ear. He swallowed hard and she laughed lightly. He paused and she stopped beside him.

"Iroh was right," he said vaguely, eyes still on the sky. "It really does look like it's going to rain."

"Good," Katara replied with a grin, resting her head on his shoulder. She hummed contentedly. "The city could use rain."

"I wonder what he meant about the umbrella…" Aang murmured, turning and kissing the top of her head, though his eyes remained on the bright red umbrella in his hands.

As if on cue, the sky opened up and it began to pour. There was no lightning, no thunder. Just a quiet, steady downpour. The already barren streets emptied around them almost instantly.

"I guess we're about to find out," Katara said with a shrug. Aang nodded and opened the umbrella above them. The rain pattered onto it, shielding both Aang and Katara from the torrent if they were close enough.

"Ah," Aang said, grinning. "I think I get it."

Katara took hold of his hand on the umbrella, smiling at him. "Do you?" she asked innocently.

He laughed and pulled her against him with his free arm, pressing kisses to her forehead, her cheeks, her lips, her jaw, her neck…

"Aang," she laughed, placing her free hand on his chest to put a few inches between them. She tilted her head a little, smiling gently. "Aang."

"…Katara?" he said at length, smiling in a perplexed sort of way.

She leaned back in and placed a soft kiss on his smiling mouth. "It's a rainy day," she replied. "You're supposed to take things slow on rainy days." She squeezed his hand on the umbrella shaft and smirked. "That way it'll last longer."

Aang kissed her in return, murmuring against her lips. "Iroh is a genius."


	2. Chapter 2

_This has basically nothing to do with Kataang or the prompt. I was just typing everything that came to mind until I could no more. Bleh._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar_

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CHAPTER 2: Smoke & Mirrors

When Aang and Katara returned hours later, umbrella still held between them, everyone else was awake and helping run the shop. Iroh had learned that Toph had a knack for brewing tea to perfection, so she was back with him in the kitchen. Mai and, to everyone's surprise, Sokka, had a similar talent, though not as naturally refined as Toph, so they were in the kitchen as well. Zuko and Suki were acting as waiter and waitress, carrying trays of steaming cups to the customers thirsty enough to brave the rain. Normally only a couple of them would stay behind to run the shop, but today there wasn't much else to do.

"Well look who decided to-" Zuko began as the two of them entered, but Suki seemed to appear out of nowhere and 'accidentally' elbow him in the stomach. He staggered back with a loud 'oof' and nearly dropped his tray of scalding tea, but Suki's hand shot out and caught him by the elbow, steadying him without a second thought.

"Whoops, clumsy me," she said lightly, smirking at Katara. The younger girl laughed appreciatively while Aang rolled his eyes and turned to shake the water from the umbrella.

"You know I could probably have you hanged for that," Zuko grumbled, rubbing his stomach.

Suki waved him off like she hadn't heard him. Zuko sighed, a slight smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. This improvised family of theirs had grown so close in the past weeks, threats of hanging were like terms of endearment.

"Anyway, you guys better watch out," Suki said quietly. "Sokka's in a bad mood today. His leg's giving him trouble and he wasn't exactly happy that a certain waterbending master wasn't here for her daily healing session."

Katara gave her a strange look. "How long were we gone?" she asked, bewildered.

Suki shrugged. "I woke up three hours ago and Iroh said you'd already been gone a while…"

"Three hours?" Katara repeated in surprise. She and Aang exchanged a glance. "Boy, we did get distracted today, didn't we?"

Aang smirked and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Hey, he's not very happy with you either," Suki added, pointing at the Avatar. "As far as he's concerned, you kidnapped her."

"It's all Iroh's fault," Aang blurted immediately. "He gave me the umbrella."

Suki raised an eyebrow. Aang blushed and hid the bright red umbrella behind his back.

Katara sighed. "We're just going to have to trick Sokka then," she said lightly. "Suki, distraction?"

Suki grinned. "No problem." She finished delivering her tray and the three of them went back to the kitchen. Sokka was sitting on the floor beside a small fire pit sunk into the floor. A grate holding three kettles hung over it. Apparently Sokka had been demoted to boiling water for his bad attitude.

Suki plopped down beside him without preamble, looping an arm through his.

"Hey there, water boiler," she said amiably, but the distraction didn't seem to be working. Sokka's eyes were fixed on Aang and Katara.

"Where have you been?" he demanded crossly.

"Us? We've been out looking for you," Katara replied just as crossly.

Across the room, Toph snickered to herself but didn't say a word.

Sokka scowled suspiciously. "What are you talking about? I've been here."

"Not this morning when we both got up," Katara snapped convincingly.

"We passed your room and your bed was empty," Aang added.

"That's impossible," Sokka frowned. "I woke up in bed. Are you proposing I snuck out last night and didn't get back until morning?"

"On that leg?" Aang asked doubtfully. "I don't think so."

"Sometimes slow healing injuries like this one cause restlessness that you don't even notice," Katara shrugged. "You were probably sleepwalking."

"Sure," Sokka rolled his eyes.

"Sokka we were worried about you," Katara snapped again.

"We went out to find you this morning," Aang pressed. "Ask Iroh."

Iroh looked over at the sound of his name. Sokka just looked at him.

"Oh it's true," he said after a moment, nodding. "They were very worried about you. But you wandered back in a few hours ago, must have walked right past me."

Sokka sighed dramatically. "Fine, sure, sleepwalking," he waved the matter off. Aang and Katara grinned triumphantly. "Would you please just heal my leg?"

"Sure thing Sokka," Katara said soothingly. "Aang and I just have to take care of something."

"We do?" Aang asked under his breath.

Katara just smiled and grabbed his hand, dragging him across the kitchen toward Iroh.

"Thanks for the umbrella," Katara said quietly, grinning.

"Oh yeah, thanks," Aang added, squeezing her hand and offering the umbrella to Iroh.

"You keep it," Iroh replied, waving them off. "I think you have more use for it than me."

Aang and Katara exchanged a smirking glance before Sokka cleared his throat loudly.


	3. Chapter 3

_This is the shortest of the lot. And this is also the point when I started watching PUSHING DAISIES through slightly less than legal channels, so they start getting better._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar_

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CHAPTER 3: Heartbeat

It took a long time to heal Sokka's leg, considering he complained the whole time. When she finally finished, Katara was as tired and cross as her brother. Aang had to grab her by the shoulders and pull her away from the grate to keep her from bending a load of scalding water all over her sibling.

"What did you do that for? I wasn't going to hurt him," Katara snapped. Aang frowned at her. She sighed. "Much."

Aang just shook his head, exasperated, and handed an apron to her. "Come on, we can help Suki and Zuko out in the front."

"Wrong," Mai said suddenly, snatching the apron from Katara's hand. "This place is crowded enough as it is. You two go relax or something."

"Are you sure?" Aang asked doubtfully. Mai swiped his apron as well.

"I'm okay with that," Katara sighed, grabbing Aang by the elbow and dragging him out the back door. Across a small courtyard was Iroh's house, a simple flat like the one Team Avatar had shared during their first visit to Ba Sing Se.

"I feel kind of guilty about this," Aang muttered, pausing outside the door as Katara crossed the threshold. "I mean… we were gone all morning and now we're not even helping in the shop…"

Katara grabbed him by the front of his robes and pulled him through the doorway, bringing them nose to nose.

"Come on, Aang, Mai said they didn't need any help," she said quietly. Aang swallowed hard. Every word she spoke brought their lips a little closer. She smirked. "What, you don't want to spend time with me?"

"Uh… um… Ka…" he stammered, blushing. Katara laughed and took his hands in hers, taking a few steps away so he could breath.

"Aang, how did you get so sweet?" she asked quietly, smiling. He glanced away sheepishly. "We've been together for a whole week, but you still get so nervous."

To two of them sat together in the window seat at the back of the room. Aang looped an arm around her waist, pulling her to his side.

"I can't help it," he admitted, shrugging. "Every day with you feels like the first one. Everything is always new and exciting."

Katara closed her eyes and sighed, smiling. "I ask you again," she murmured, curling up against his chest. "How did you get so sweet?"

"Years of practice," he replied, shrugging. Katara didn't reply. He looked down at her. She had her ear pressed to his chest, eyes half-lidded. "You okay?"

She drew a finger to her lips. "I'm listening," she whispered.

"To what?" he whispered back, confused.

"Your heartbeat," she murmured, pressing a hand to her chest. "Just like mine."

"Just like yours?" he repeated a little lazily, leaning back against the wall.

"Mhmm…" Katara hummed. "Same tempo. Feel it." She grabbed his hand and placed it over her heart. He blushed, but otherwise didn't show how nervous the action made him. A moment later, however, he wasn't paying attention to that.

"You're right," he whispered. "Just like yours."

"We're so similar, you and me," she murmured, closing her eyes and making herself a little more comfortable against him. "Same heartbeat…"

"You're sweet too…" Aang yawned again. She smiled, but not another word was said. The two of them drifted off to sleep, listening to each other's hearts beating in perfect harmony.


	4. Chapter 4

_Okay wait just kidding. This is the shortest one, not that third one. MY BAD. For real though, PUSHING DAISIES is good for your soul. It's making me feel better._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar_

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CHAPTER 4: Butterflies

Katara woke up first a few hours later. She was very comfortable and a little disoriented. When she got her bearings, however, she felt a blush creeping from her ears down to her shoulders.

She and Aang had fallen asleep in the window seat, side by side. Her head was nestled comfortably in the hollow between his shoulder and his jaw. One hand was on his chest, fingers clenched tightly on the fabric of his robes. The other was on his waist. Their legs were tangled between them. It was his hands, however, that were causing her to blush. One arm was wrapped around her, his hand warm and dangerously low on her back. The other, which had been over her heart when they fell asleep, had slid down and somehow found its way into her robes so it rested on the bare skin of her stomach.

Katara sucked in a deep breath, feeling suddenly very shy regardless of Aang still being sound asleep. She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, butterflies unsettling the inside of her stomach while Aang's hand warmed the outside.

"You were right," she whispered, a little breathless. "Every day with you feels like the first one."

Aang let out a long sigh and shifted slightly, pressing her closer with the hand on her back and tickling her stomach when his other hand moved against her skin. She smiled a little and let out a sigh of her own. The raindrops pattering against the window were only vaguely registered in Katara's mind as she snuggled closer to his neck.

The feeling of butterflies in her stomach and the sound of the rain on the window lulled her back to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hey look here's another one! If there's one good thing about my job, it's that I get a lot of time to think. Of how much I hate my job. And also what to write._

_I love writing dialogue for these two. It's just so natural, it's lovely._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar_

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CHAPTER 5: Mine

The young Avatar was awoken shortly after Katara fell back to sleep by her warm breath on his neck. The pattering rain outside had become a downpour.

It took him several moments to realize where his hands were, and he moved them quickly with a blush of embarrassment. Katara seemed to notice their absence, however, and woke up with a quiet sound of contentment.

"Hey," she murmured, still tucked comfortably against him.

"Hey," he replied quietly, smiling.

"We fell asleep," she sighed.

"Yes we did."

"You're a very good pillow."

"Thanks, I never would have guessed."

"You're welcome. Do you suppose we should get up?"

Aang thought about it for a moment. "No," he said definitively. "Where would we go? It's raining worse than ever."

"We could use the umbrella," she said lightly, and he could hear the smirk in her voice. He laughed and she sighed, feeling the sound rumbling through his chest.

"We could," he admitted. "But I'm still extremely comfortable."

"Good point."

The two of them fell silent for a long time, content just listening to the rain and the breathing of the other.

"One week," Aang sighed.

"Hm?"

"One week, that's how long we've been together," he continued.

"Well technically it's been closer to one year," she said with a smile.

Aang laughed. "Yeah well, I've only been able to do this with you for one week."

"Do what?"

"Just… lie here," he sighed contentedly. "Just hold you and be with you without anything to wonder about."

"Mm… it has been a good week," she obliged. "One whole week I've been able to call you mine."

Aang paused. "Yours?" he asked, perplexed.

Katara sat up so she could look him in the eye. She tilted her head a little. "Yeah, mine," she repeated. "Don't you consider me yours?"

Aang thought about it. "I don't know. I've never really… I mean, I'm a monk. We're not really into possession, you know?" he reasoned. She nodded. "But now I'm thinking about it… I guess I've kind of always considered you mine."

Katara smiled warmly. "Really? Always?" she laughed a little. Aang blushed, but he couldn't keep the sheepish smile from his face.

"At least I've always wanted to," he added. She leaned forward and kissed him without preamble, one hand on his cheek to steady them both.

"Well now you can," she whispered, the sound nearly lost on his lips.

Aang grinned. "You're mine."


	6. Chapter 6

_Did I mention PUSHING DAISIES is good for your soul? It really is. It's responsible for this whole chapter._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar_

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CHAPTER 6: Gravity

"Aang?"

"Hm?"

Aang and Katara were sitting on the stoop in the courtyard between Iroh's house and the Jasmine Dragon, side by side beneath the bright red umbrella. They had come to the agreement that they were getting lazy and decided to take another walk, but they'd been distracted as soon as they reached the courtyard and just settled there instead.

"I want to tell you something but I'm not sure if our relationship is ready for it yet," Katara said in a rush. She glanced at him. "Think I should tell you anyway?"

"Yes," Aang said simply, giving her a comforting smile. She didn't seem convinced.

"Promise me I won't scare you off or anything," she said quietly, frowning up at the raindrops dripping from the edge of the umbrella.

"Never," he assured her with another soothing smile.

Katara paused, chewing on her lip. Thunder rumbled above them.

"I um… I think… well I feel like I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you," she said. Aang was silent. The way she said it… so simple, so honest. She shrugged her shoulders slightly as she finished. She didn't sound emotional or afraid. She just said it.

"Hmm…" she hummed after several long moments. "I feel like I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you." She nodded. "That's right. That sounds right, that… feels right." She finally glanced over at Aang. "Hmm," she hummed again. "How do you feel?"

Aang remained silent for a while. "I feel like I'm… falling," he murmured.

He realized a moment later that that was perhaps not the best thing to say. To everyone in the world without the ability to fly, falling was probably a bad thing. But, much to his surprise, Katara turned and smiled at him. She reached up and placed a hand on his cheek.

"You… you know that's a good thing," he stated, blushing in surprise.

She tilted her head a little. "Of course, you're an airbender," she said indulgently. "You love falling."

"I love you," he blurted. They both paused, Katara's hand slipping down his cheek slightly. The smile had dropped from her face, leaving in its place a look of surprise.

Aang felt himself panicking. Before he could begin to sweat, however, her lips were hard on his. She threw her arms around his neck with so much force it nearly knocked him over. It knocked the umbrella out of his hands at least, and before he knew it, water was dumping down on their heads and shoulders in icy sheets.

As Katara pulled him closer, losing her balance and dragging him to the ground with her, still connected at the lips, Aang decided he couldn't care less about the rain.


	7. Chapter 7

_So ends Lyralocke's belated condensed Kataang week. Hurrah. Hopefully I can get back into Parlor Tricks now. I just realized I haven't posted a new chapter in a month and now I feel really guilty. ACK. Help me, PUSHING DAISIES!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar_

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CHAPTER 7: Comatose

Half an hour later, Aang and Katara were to be found in front of the fireplace in Iroh's house, their soaked clothes hanging in the washroom to dry. Aang had put on a dry pair of pants, Katara a robe, and they sat together in intimate silence until Aang fell asleep. When Iroh walked into the room, the young Avatar's head was in her lap. Katara was gazing into the fire with a slight smile on her lips, one hand intertwined with his and resting on his bare chest as he snoozed on.

"Is he alright?" Iroh asked quietly.

Katara glanced back at him and nodded, still smiling. "He fell asleep," she whispered. Iroh nodded. He knew he had come to the house for a reason, but looking at the two of them, the details seemed to have left his mind.

"You seem rather happier than usual," Iroh observed, sitting down beside her.

The smile grew on Katara's face. "Something wonderful has happened," she sighed. He nodded for her to go on. "I told him I wanted to spend my life with him, and he told me he loved me."

Iroh felt himself grinning right back at her. "If you don't mind me saying so, I could see that he loved you from the moment I met him." Katara closed her eyes as if the words were music to her ears.

"What about me?" she asked shortly. "Could you tell I loved him?"

"That depends," Iroh replied, shrugging. "Could you?"

Katara paused. Aang sighed and the smile tugged at her lips again.

"I've always loved him," she stated. "Always." Iroh seemed satisfied with her answer. She glanced at him. "I never thanked you."

"Hm? What for?" Iroh asked, perplexed.

Katara's gaze returned to the fire. "Under Ba Sing Se, when Azula…" she trailed off and swallowed hard. "You… you stood between us and your own niece and nephew to save him. I never… got a chance to thank you until now."

Iroh nodded solemnly. "How long was he down?" he asked gently.

Katara became very still at the thought of Aang's long period of unconsciousness after the fall of Ba Sing Se. "Too long," was her quiet reply. "But he came back to me. He always does."

Iroh sighed. "Yours is a love most rare in this world," he concluded as he got to his feet. "I believe you are very right in thinking you will spend the rest of your life with him."

Katara smiled fondly at the boy slumbering in her arms. "Thank you," she whispered.


End file.
